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Additional Quotes about the Local Church by Witness Lee and Watchman Neej. Differentiation between the Church and the Work To understand the administration in the church, Watchman Nee and Witness Lee found it necessary to differentiate between the church and the work. They explained that an elder’s work is local whereas an apostle’s work is extra-local. Therefore, an elder cannot administrate the affairs of other local churches, and an apostle should not directly administrate the affairs of a local church. The following quotes illuminate this point: And since all scriptural elders are local brothers, if we transfer a man from some other place to control a church, we are departing from scriptural ground. Here again we see the difference between the churches and the work. A brother may be transferred to another place to take care of the work there, but no brother can be sent out of his own locality to bear the burdens of the church in another place. The churches of God are all governed by elders, and elders are all chosen from among the local brethren. If a group of men are saved in a certain place, and a worker is left in charge of them, then it is inaccurate to refer to that company as a church. If affairs are still in the hands of the worker and have not passed into the hands of the local brothers, then it is still his work; it is not a church. Let us make this distinction clear: the work is always in the hands of the workers, and the church is always in the hands of the local brethren. Whenever a worker is in control of affairs, then it is a question of work, not of a church. It has been pointed out before that in God’s Word there are local elders, but no local apostles. When Paul left Titus in Crete, his object was not that Titus should manage church affairs there, but that he should appoint elders in every place so that they could take charge of affairs. The business of the worker is to found churches and appoint elders, never to take direct responsibility in the churches. If in any place an apostle takes responsibility for the affairs of the local church, he either changes the nature of his office or the nature of the church. No apostle coming from another place is qualified for the office of local elder; the post can only be occupied by local men. (Watchman Nee, Collected Works, Set 2, Vol. 30, 165) In 8:23 some brothers are spoken of as the apostles of the churches. This means that they are the ones sent by the churches, and they are the glory of Christ. It is not just a matter between you and the Lord, nor between you and your local church, but between you and the local churches. If you are sent out, it is not only by your local church but by the churches. All the churches agree in this one thing. (Witness Lee, Christ as Life, 120) The Holy Spirit first called two apostles—Paul and Barnabas—to the work, and thereafter a number of churches sprang into being in different places. So it is clear that the apostolic ministry precedes the existence of the local churches, and consequently it is obvious that the work of apostles does not belong to the local churches. (Watchman Nee, Collected Works, Set 2, Vol. 30, 99) After the apostles appoint the elders and commit the church into the hands of the elders, what shall the apostles do in the future? Some say that the apostles have nothing to do with the church anymore. According to their feeling, the appointment of the elders by the apostles was the termination of the relationship of the apostles with the churches. They say this by using Brother Nee’s fellowship in The Normal Christian Church Life as a basis. On page 66 of this book, Brother Nee says, “Once a church was established, all responsibility was handed over to the local elders, and from that day the apostles exercised no control whatever in its affairs.” In this quote from Brother Nee’s book, we should notice the phrase “in its affairs.” Some quote Brother Nee’s words without realizing the significance of this phrase. (Brother Nee in his book entitled Church Affairs, pp. 149, 14-20, corrected this misuse of his word.) The apostles were to keep their hands off of the administration of the local church in its business affairs, not in its need of the apostles’ teaching, instruction, and charge. We saw that Paul wrote a letter to the church in Corinth charging them to remove a certain sinful man from the fellowship of the church. The apostle commanded the church to do this—"Remove the evil man from among yourselves” (1 Cor. 5:13). Does this mean that the apostle took the church back under his administration? No, not at all. If this had been the case, he would not have needed to tell others to remove the sinful one. He would have done it directly by himself. In this sense, Paul as an apostle kept his hands off of the church administration but not from teaching, instructing, and charging the church. (Witness Lee, Eldership (1), 49-50) | ||||